What kind of game is Jewel Columns?
A column of three jewels stacked on top of each other falls from the top. You slide it left or right and cycle the order of its jewels so that three or more of the same jewel end up in a line. Lines count across, down and along both diagonals, and matched jewels shatter into sparkling shards. Much like the arcade game Columns, you never rotate a block; you shuffle the order of the jewels instead, and that is what sets it apart from other falling block puzzles.
The board is 6 cells wide and 13 cells tall, and every column enters at the top of the third cell from the left. There are six jewels: a heart cut ruby, a round sapphire, an octagonal emerald, a hexagonal topaz, a triangular amethyst and a classic diamond. Each has its own cut as well as its own color, so players who find colors hard to tell apart can read the shapes instead. The game ends when the entry cell is blocked or a column lands sticking out above the top.
How does cycling the jewels work?
Each press of the up arrow moves the bottom jewel to the top and pushes the other two down one cell. Three presses bring the column back to where it started, and Z cycles the other way.
After a column touches the floor or the stack you still have half a second to slide or cycle it. A dashed outline with faded jewels shows exactly where the column will land, so you can check which lines will form before you let go. The box at the top right shows the next column.
How are points and chains scored?
Every cleared jewel is worth 10 points, multiplied by the square of the chain step and by the level multiplier. When jewels vanish and the ones above settle into a new line, that is a 2 chain; one more line makes a 3 chain, and the score climbs fast.
| Situation | Points |
|---|---|
| Clear 3 jewels at once (level 1) | 30 |
| 3 jewels in a 2 chain | 3 × 10 × 4 = 120 |
| 3 jewels in a 3 chain | 3 × 10 × 9 = 270 |
| Level multiplier | Adds 0.25 for every level above 1 (level 5 doubles everything) |
| Soft drop (↓) | 1 point per cell |
| Hard drop (Space) | 2 points per cell |
| Magic jewel | 15 points per cleared jewel × level multiplier |
The chain step matters far more than the number of jewels. Popping three jewels four times in a row scores several times more than clearing twelve at once.
What is the magic jewel and when does it appear?
The column whose jewels keep changing color is the magic jewel. When it lands it removes every jewel on the board that matches the jewel right beneath it. It first appears after you clear 45 jewels and returns after every 70 more.
While a magic jewel is falling, a white ring blinks around every jewel of the color it would remove, so you can see the result before it lands. Drop it on the most common color and the whole stack sinks, often setting off fresh chains as the jewels settle. Dropped on an empty floor it simply vanishes for 100 points.
How are the three modes different?
Endless is about surviving as long as you can, 3 Minute Rush is about scoring as much as possible in three minutes, and Flash Bomb is a stage mode where you dig a buried bomb jewel down to the floor to blow up the whole board. Each mode keeps its own best score.
| Mode | Rules |
|---|---|
| Endless | Every 30 jewels cleared raise the level and speed up the columns. Up to level 30 |
| 3 Minute Rush | Ends after 180 seconds. In the last 10 seconds the clock turns red and ticks |
| Flash Bomb | A bomb jewel is buried in a prebuilt stack. When it reaches the floor the whole board explodes and the next stage begins. Bonus: 1,000 × stage plus 20 per jewel blown up |
In stage 1 of Flash Bomb only one jewel sits under the bomb, but one more is added every three stages and the stack grows taller. Your goal is the moment the UNDER BOMB counter in the side box hits zero. Every 22 columns within a stage bring an extra magic jewel, and a magic jewel dropped onto the bomb sets it off on the spot.
How much faster does each level get?
At level 1 a column takes 0.9 seconds to fall one cell, and every level makes it 13% faster. Level 10 is about 0.26 seconds per cell and level 20 about 0.06 seconds, which is close to free fall.
On the title screen you can pick a starting level from 1 to 15. A higher start is faster from the first column, but the bigger level multiplier also makes every clear worth more. New players do best learning the cycle move at level 1 or 3 before moving up.
Any tips for a higher score?
- Look at the diagonals first. Watching only rows and columns misses a lot. Diagonal lines form most often between columns of different heights, like a staircase.
- Leave pairs ready. The more spots where two matching jewels already sit side by side, the more places one column can finish a line.
- Build chains from the bottom up. Put a matching jewel one cell higher above a line you are about to clear, and when the line vanishes it drops into place for an automatic 2 chain.
- Keep the third cell low. If the entry column is blocked the game ends even when other columns are empty.
- Spend magic jewels on the most common color. Landing one on the color that fills the board most drops the whole stack at once.
Controls
- Keyboard: ← → or A D move, and holding a key keeps sliding. ↑, W or X cycle, Z cycles back, ↓ or S soft drop while held, Space hard drops, P or Esc pause.
- Phone and tablet: swipe sideways on the board to move one cell at a time, tap to cycle, and flick down to hard drop. The buttons at the bottom (◀ ▶ ↻ ▼ ⤓) do the same.
- Mouse: click the board to cycle, drag sideways to move, and drag down quickly to hard drop.
Every jewel, the gold frame and all sounds are drawn and synthesized in code, so there are no image or sound files to download. Best scores for each mode and your starting level are saved only in this browser and never sent to a server.